On the British Species of Simulium. —II. The Early Stages ; with Corrections and Additions to Part I

Abstract

In the introduction to the first part of this paper* it was remarked that very little exact work had been published on the adult European SIMULIDAE. This is equally true of the larvae and pupae ; in fact no one has attempted to describe the early stages of more than two or three of the common species. Moreover, in spite of their great interest, and the ease with which they can be collected and reared, they have apparently been almost entirely ignored by collectors, so that whereas in publishing my previous work I was able to acknowledge valuable assistance from a number of fellow entomologists, the results given in the following pages are, unless otherwise stated, due to my own observations. I wish especially to thank Mr. M. E. Mosely for the early stages of S. subornatum, the last species to come under my notice in the pupal stage. While there are still many important gaps in our knowledge which remain to be filled, it has been thought worth while to state without further delay the results that have been obtained so far.